The Cy-Hawk Trophy donated by the Des Moines Athletic Club when Iowa State and Iowa resumed football competition in 1977.

Iowa’s athletics department paid Iowa State $616,383.48 for its 2008 appearance at Kinnick Stadium, per the schools’ current football contract.

The payout exceeds Iowa State’s share from 2006 by more than $23,000 or the school’s share in 2004 by more than $35,000. The contract between the universities stipulates that the home school pay the visitor 20 percent in gate receipts after taxes.

Iowa State and Iowa agreed to a new contract in 2008 that lasts through 2017, but the terms change following the 2012 game. Beginning in 2013, the host school will keep all of the gate receipts.

The current arrangement favors Iowa State because of stadium capacity. Iowa’s Kinnick Stadium holds more than 70,000 fans, while Iowa State’s Jack Trice Stadium holds around 55,000. Iowa received $330,389 from Iowa State following the 2007 game in Ames, nearly half of what Iowa State took in last season.

Iowa State also will benefit from earning the final 20 percent cut in 2012 and then keeping all of the gate in 2013.

This year Iowa State hosts Iowa Sept. 12. Individual tickets are available through Iowa’s ticket office for $92. Iowa State is offering a three-game package that includes Iowa, North Dakota State and Colorado beginning July 20 for $99. Iowa State also selling hillside-only tickets for $60.

Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sage Rosenfels works with young football players at Tim Dwight Football Camp at Iowa City High on Thursday, June 25, 2009, in Iowa City.

Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sage Rosenfels almost seems resigned that his team eventually will sign longtime quarterback Brett Favre.

“Well, it hasn’t happened yet, so I don’t know how I’m going to feel at the time,” Rosenfels said Thursday morning at the annual Tim Dwight Football Camp at Iowa City High.

“There’s nothing I can do about it. (The Favre speculation is) not helping me get better for the season, so it’s something I try not to pay attention to. It’s not going to help me throw any touchdown passes this year, by me reading the paper every day or being on the Internet every day. I’m just focused on getting myself ready the best I can for the season.”

Minnesota traded a fourth-round pick to Houston this year for Rosenfels, who was expected to compete with Tarvaris Jackson for the Vikings’ starting quarterback position. Speculation has swirled this offseason that Minnesota will sign Favre, which would shift Rosenfels back to reserve status.

“Tavaris and I — as of right now — are competing for the starting job, and I’m excited for that,” Rosenfels said. “Obviously, I feel like I’m capable of meeting that challenge.”

Rosenfels, a Maquoketa native and former Iowa State quarterback, said Vikings coaches briefly addressed the Favre rumors with the team’s quarterbacks this offseason.

“Just a small discussion that Coach (Brad) Childress discussed with all four quarterbacks,” Rosenfels said. ” But it lasted about a minute and nothing significant.

“There’s only so many things I can control, and I can’t control what coaches and GMs are always doing. All I can really control is how I perform when I’m out there, and how the group around me performs when they’re out there. So that’s my focus is and that’s what I’m trying to do.”

Rosenfels, who’s entering his ninth NFL season, has started five games in each of the last two seasons for Houston. Last year he threw for 1,431 yards, six touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He lost two fumbles as well. In 2007, he played in nine games throwing for 1,684 yards, 15 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. He has started 12 games in his career and thrown for 4,156 yards, 30 touchdowns and 29 interceptions. The Vikings are his fourth NFL team.

Rosenfels often travels between Minneapolis and Houston, where he’s selling his home, and Iowa. It’s kept him busy this offsesason.

“I’ve been back and forth to Iowa a lot and flying back to Houston to see my family a lot,” he said. “It doesn’t give you much time to sit around and mess around online all afternoon. That’s actually a good thing. Keeping busy has been a good thing for me.”

Gene Chizik left Iowa State for Auburn with a navy-and-orange “Good-bye” stretched across the 50-yard-line at Jack Trice Stadium.

It’s strange to think about today but this divorce, which feels more like an annulment, might be best for both parties — if Iowa State hires Turner Gill.

Chizik never seemed at home in Ames. I think most media thought he would make a good coach, although some of his game-day decisions were a bit baffling. It does seem a bit hypocritical for coaches like Chizik to preach to players about about finishing and commitment, and blasting former player Philip Bates for “quitting” yet when the first private jet down south has your one-way ticket, they don’t give it a second thought. But it’s not surprising, either.

That’s why ISU officials, alumni and fans need to realize this move presents them with a great opportunity. Gill has every intangible Iowa State needs right now. He’s got regional roots after a stellar playing career at Nebraska. He obviously can coach and recruit by taking Buffalo to the MAC title. Iowa State can even stick it to Auburn by hiring the coach most Tiger fans wanted, as evidenced by this column:

Hiring Gill would gain national headlines for a football program considered almost irrelevant among BCS schools. That’s what happens with three consecutive losing seasons and a 10-game losing streak. Hiring Gill would generate positive publicity for a program desperately needing it. It might also help keep Chizik’s recruits and talented young players in Ames.

Who knows, maybe Auburn and Iowa State could meet next year in the Independence Bowl to prove which school got the best coach.